I can see how this game could be viewed as symbolic of imperialism. Here comes the white man to save the poor Africans from themselves, where saving them from themselves mostly involves killing them.

Capcom > Current Rare.  The old Rare made some of the best games of all time (Perfect Dark, Conker's Bad Furday, Goldeney, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Diddy Kong Racing, Donkey Kong 64, Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, and 3).  All of these were made back with the original developers of rare.  What have they made since then?  Perfect Dark Zero.... and Viva Pinata.  Now Capcom has lost the developers of arguably the 2 best games they ever made (Okami and Resident Evil 4).  I'm not saying they won't still have some great games comming, but there is nothing wrong with being sceptical about the future of a series after it loses it's major developers.

Keep in mind that the zombie myth came from african-americans...specifically the culture of haiti. Zombies used to be created by some kind of neurotoxin....and all kinds of undead myth grew up around it.

There is nothing racist about a black zombie, in fact, it would be more culturally accurate for a fictional type of media to include mostly or all black zombies.

UGH! Now that is western media bullshit at it's finest. It's true that the idea of raising people from the dead came from Africa, but it's not even close to the western idea of the zombie. In Africa voodoo was used upon the passing of a loved one in the understanding that there is a small chance that they may rise back up from the dead and rejoin your family. It's a miraculous and wonderful event for a family member to be risen from the dead in Africa, almost like seeing an angel in western cultures, but the stupid media bastardized something that's spiritual and sacred to the Africans into brain eating monsters.

It's like people who decorate their bathroom counters with Buddhas.  It's such a ridiculous and disrespectful way to treat someone else's religion. 

Yeah, that makes sense. Vampires have to be Slavic, as well.

The zombie archetype is actually found in nearly every culture, going to back to Sumeria. Vampires, in fact, in many countries resemble what we think of as zombies. The name is native to Haiti, the idea is not.

OK. This is going to be a hell of a long rant. Bear with me. (Or not.)

The RE5 trailer creeped me out, but in a bad way, not a good way. The problem isn't the white hero-figure per se. Redfield could have been any ethnicity or nationality under the sun.

The problem is that someone from the First World is shown slaughtering the residents of a Third World village... and then justifies it by saying "I've got a job to do."

You can show Spanish zombies running amok in RE4 because Spain is a rich, developed country today, with a terrible past, so players can easily get the reference: zombies = ghosts of Francoist fascism. We know enough about Spain to understand it isn't real, it's just a game.

But most of the media and images of the Third World -- Haiti, Africa, South Asia, etc. -- are horrible. It's all about starving bodies, gaunt faces, endemic AIDS, civil war, etc. There's no distance or information which would allow most people to realize, oh, this is just a game. How would they know Third World villages are complex places, full of vibrant personalities, story-telling, love-affairs, gossip, and all the other things which make us human?

The history of imperialism is spine-chilling. The British killed at least 35 million in India, Spanish imperialism killed maybe 15 million in the Americas, and the Europeans killed millions more in Africa. The slave trade alone killed 6 million people, the first organized genocide of modernity. Nazi Germany didn't invent genocide, far from it. All these genocides, new and old, have left terrible scars in our consciousness, which is why we still have to wrestle with the fallout, centuries later.

Why does this matter? BECAUSE THIS IMPERIALISM CRAP STILL GOES ON. Those of us who are Americans on this list should think twice before arguing that "oh, images of the Third World don't t matter". Our country is engaged in a colonial war of overt, naked aggression, which has killed at least 800,000 people in Iraq. Millions more may die before we finally leave them alone. Dehumanizing and demonizing Arabs was key to this war - erasing all images of Iraqis as human beings, and instead showing nothing but masked jihadis sawing off heads.

I'm not saying RE5 is pro-war. In fact, the series has always been damn subversive - bashing governments, corporations, etc. Osmund Saddler is the perfect incarnation of Dick Cheney. But the trailer was problematic, for the reasons listed above. I just hope RE5 avoids the cliches and identifies the real monsters - the monsters of Empire.

Very good post with some very good points, however we have drifted away from the original topic.  There are certainly very valid reasons to be upset about the development choices for this game, but calling this "racism training" as they basically did was pretty far off base.  I agree after going through this topic and these discussions that this is a horrible way to develop this game (Capcom misses you Shinji), but technically the original reason it was being bashed is stupid.

Exactly, that's why I don't reccomend africa.  Anyway, the haitian idea of zombies is much closer to what we think of the western idea of zombies.  Over there, it was done by voodoo priests, and even the regular haitans think that this voodoo stuff is kind of spooky.  That's possibly part of the attraction, but not only that, this idea that zombies are spooky could fit right into a REZ story-line.   

REZ - banana republic anyone?

Slorgnet said: "The problem is that someone from the First World is shown slaughtering the residents of a Third World village... and then justifies it by saying "I've got a job to do."" (Slow clap.)

"Why does this matter? BECAUSE THIS IMPERIALISM CRAP STILL GOES ON. Those of us who are Americans on this list should think twice before arguing that "oh, images of the Third World don't t matter". Our country is engaged in a colonial war of overt, naked aggression, which has killed at least 800,000 people in Iraq."

Non Sequor said: "where saving them from themselves mostly involves killing them."

And today it isn't even government or public interests. It is corparate interest, don't get me wrong I believe business owners have every right to lobby the government, but good politicians balance these things. And good media, which video games can be a part of, challenges the injustices of governments and coprorations on the people.

It is healthy and productive in a diversified democracy, to ask "why?" and to point out when you think there is abuse. I am tired of radicals who group themselves as being part of the right group (left and right around the world) and then start attacking anyone who challenges their views.

I realize it is just a video game, but it is in our private conversations and our everyday entertainment where the idea of peace and justice for all should be disseminated. I for one will not buy a game that is insensitive to the problems of the real world when they deal with real world politics. Stomping goombas and shooting tie-fighters is different then going to a third world country and killing the locals.

While it may not be a racism trainer, it does encourage the idea of the 1st world white man saving the third world dark people through violence on the ones they are trying to save.  They used strong statements to get attention, which is the only way to do it nowadays and I am glad they did.